That boast was shocking. The academy had already decreed that, if Heath wins, the statuette would belong to his 3-year-old daughter Matilda and should go to her mother, Michelle Williams, for safe-keeping till she turns 18. Details of that deal were agreed to by both Williams and the Ledger family, the academy said.

But Heath's dad seemed to pooh-pooh all that. Kim Ledgertold reporters at LAX that he had no plan to give Matilda the Oscar statuette anytime soon. "We'll keep it for her forever!" he said. Will he ever give it to Matilda? "Oh, yeah, down the line," he replied.

Had he forgotten the deal he made with the academy due to jet lag? Or was the Ledger family planning to chuck all that, keep the Oscar after the ceremony and head back to Perth, Australia, with it?

The matter finally has been resolved — quite differently from what the Ledgers told the media.

Academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger tells Gold Derby: "We expect a representative of the Ledger estate to bring the statuette in tomorrow (or soon thereafter) so that the engraved plate can be affixed. Soon after that, we expect the statuette (with engraved plate) to be delivered to Michelle Williams."

What about Heath's other awards? As Gold Derby reported earlier, no one has filled out the paperwork to claim Heath's SAG Award. His Golden Globe was sent to the office of his publicist, Mara Buxbaum, who also represents Michelle Williams. When we contacted Buxbaum for comment, she declined.